REVIEW: American Ultra (15)

American Ultra stars contemporary starlets Jesse Eisenberg as Mike Howell and Twilight's Kristen Stewart as his long suffering girlfriend, Phoebe Larson. In a small town, Mike Howell is in a "perfect" relationship with his girlfriend. He works at a small convenience shop, is pursuing his dream of being a comic book artist and everything is going great. Great, until a new director of the CIA comes into play and decides that Mike is on his hit list to be eliminated. The former director takes umbrage to this and decides to warn Mike about his impending doom. Then the story unravels to find that Mike is actually a highly trained and genetically modified super soldier that has been deactivated. So, naturally when the CIA goes after him, the former director reactivates him. This then gives him heightened senses and abilities - not bad for a guy who likes to get drunk, stoned and suffers panic attacks.

What could be best described as Trainspotting meets Salt, American Ultra has the graphic violence of a manga comic or anime with a black comedy undertone. I found Eisenberg's character hard to like, and spends most of the time running away or cowering in the corner. But when he does fight it is both gruesome and quite gripping. What could have been an edge of your seat action flick becomes more of a run and hide operation and we only see flashes of this guys abilities. He is almost a superhero in his own right but we don't get to see enough of that.

Topher Grace plays a fantastically smarmy bad guy as the CIA director Adrian Yates and is as smarmy as he is dangerous. The ever reliable John Leguizamo is fantastic and basically plays himself - which is what he always does and it's great. It's also nice to see Bill Pullman in the mix too. Eisenberg plays a decent Mike - but the character himself doesn't really have much going about him. Kristen Stewart doesn't do bad acting here and is sometimes (I said sometimes) endearing but generally joins in the with run and hide/getting caught mould for most of the movie.

Although the movie is full of bloody violence, drugs, sex references and bad language there is one awesome moment where one of the head henchman called Laugher, has a moment with Mike after trying to kill him. He asks Mike who controls him. Mike replies, "No-one," and Laugher shows some real humility by replying innocently - "that must be nice." It was a fantastic and moving piece of cinematography which was probably one of the highlights of the film. The other spark of brilliance was when Mike is pinned down by a gun man in his own house and he throws a pan in the air and shoots a bullet to ricochet off it. It's things like this that make you think a bit more thought and this could be downright awesome!

The zero to hero storyline and the basic premise have been seen a million times before, but the movie is really strange but I can't put my finger on why. It's seems to be a bit all over the place and I was desperately trying to think what score I could give it and I found it difficult. I though 6/10 but that is totally doing it an injustice because it's actually ok as an action movie. Then 7/10 is being too generous. Even 6.5/10 is not quite right so, for the first time ever I'm giving a movie:

POPSCORE: 6.8/10

What am I talking about? American Ultra the movie
Where can I find out more? http://www.americanultrathemovie.com
If you liked this try: The Bourne Identity, Salt, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Hot Fuzz

REVIEW: American Sniper (15)

Bradley Cooper harnesses his inner Chuck Norris in the contemporary biopic American Sniper. Directed by seasoned veteran Clint Eastwood, American Sniper stars Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, the legendary American Sniper - one of the greatest marksmen in American Military history.

I remember when this movie came out there was a lot of "hoo-yah" (to quote the Marines) about it glorifying war and the role of the military.  Personally I found it a moving and compelling story about a man who wanted to fight for his country and what he believes is the greater good. His views may come across as a bit controversial in certain aspects - he doesn't seem to have remorse for killing people but views it more as war and necessary - but the film does an interesting job at highlighting the strains on family and relationships through having a significant other away fighting while trying to rear a child in such a tumultuous world.

The movie is based on the novel, American Sniper, which is basically the autobiography of Chris Kyle - and therefore is written by him. The movie starts with him in a warzone making a difficult call on whether to shoot a citizen in Iraq and just before that decision is made it cuts back to a time in history where we see a pre-military Kyle rodeo-ing and living his life. He decides to change career after an injury and becomes a member of the elite Navy SEALs. After a Full Metal Jacket style montage of training we are dropped right in the action with him and we see him go to war in a number of campaigns and we also get to see his relationship blossom with his family too - marriage, children and post-war years.

Cooper does a fantastic job of bringing the legend that is Chris Kyle to the big screen and the war sequences are reminiscent of my favourite war movie Black Hawk Down. The supporting cast are great too - Sienna Miller puts in a good performance as Chris's wife Taya - who tirelessly brings up their children while he is away protecting his fellow marines.

All in all this is a fantastic film, and although is heavy on American patriotism and definitely justifying the war on Iraq, the film also has an interesting take on the personal side of war and the toll it takes, not just on the military personnel involved but also the families of those servicemen who go to fight. The end of the movie features real life footage in a tribute to the real Chris Kyle.

Tense, taut and thrilling this film is actually really good.  American Sniper is rated 15 and is out on June 1st on DVD and Blu Ray and all good download sites.

POPSCORE: 8/10

What am I talking about? The movie American Sniper

Where can I find out more? http://www.americansnipermovie.com/

If you like this try: Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers, Saving Private Ryan 

Anything else?
The movie is based on the book called American Sniper by Chris Kyle.